Black girl ignored at gymnastics event in Ireland, Simone Biles reacts

Gymnastics Ireland issued a public statement of apology on Monday, even though the event took place in March 2022.

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A year-old video that shows a young black girl being ignored during a medal ceremony at a gymnastics event is going viral.

The video, which was taken during Gymnastic Ireland’s GymStart program in March 2022, shows a woman giving participation medals to all young gymnasts. However, she skips a black girl who is also standing in a line and continues to bestow the medals to other participants.

The video was posted on X by Mohamad Safa, a human rights activist, on September 22. Many people were quick to label this incident as racist. American gymnast Simone Biles also commented on this video and wrote, “when this video was circulating, her parents reached out. It broke my heart to see, so I sent her a little video”.

Welcome to Ireland where people get away with racism! This little black girl broke my heart. Don’t skip this post without leaving a million heart for her. Make her famous… pic.twitter.com/YYMIP1IALZ

— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) September 22, 2023

On September 22, Gymnastics Ireland wrote in a public statement that the official in question, “expressed deep regret for what they described as an honest error and requested the opportunity to apologise in person to the competitor and her family”. The identity of the official, the minor girl, and her family are not being revealed.

However, in conversation with the Guardian, the girl’s mother deemed this response delayed and insufficient. She said, “After this horrendous incident, who wouldn’t think they should apologise? They have just sent me a letter this evening (Friday, September 22). It took well over a year, and after millions of people internationally have been disgusted by the incident. It (the apology) is useless to me, because they are not addressing the issues of racism and safety. I would love to hear them say things like ‘the next black child who comes into gymnastics will be safe’. There is nothing like that.”

On Monday, Gymnastics Ireland issued a “public statement of apology”. This time, the organisation also mentioned a number of measures to ensure that “nothing like this will happen again”.

“We appointed an independent expert to review our policies and procedures earlier this year and a series of recommendations have resulted which we are fully committed to implementing so that this does not ever happen again. We would also like to engage with the gymnast’s family and Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI) to listen to any suggestions they have as to how our procedures can be improved in this regard,” the statement said.